Shares rise up despite falling macroeconomic metrics

A Vietcombank (VCB) office in the city of Cần Thơ. VCB climbed 1.42 per cent on Friday. — VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Liêm

HÀ NỘI — Shares gained for three consecutive sessions on Friday, retracing some of the early week’s losses despite the record 10-year low GDP growth released during the day.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange edged up 0.27 per cent to close the session at 696.06 points.

The southern market index increased 0.57 per cent to close Thursday at 694.21 points.

A total of 328 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ4.4 trillion (US$187.4 million).

Eighteen of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation and trading liquidity in the VN30 basket dropped to weigh on the market. Twelve of them moved up.

According to the General Statistics Office, Việt Nam's GDP growth in the first quarter of 2020 is estimated to increase by only 3.82 per cent year-on-year, the lowest in the past 10 years. Three economic sectors experienced a sharp decline in growth, including agriculture - forestry - fishery, construction and service.

Bảo Việt Securities Co said in its daily report that Q1 GDP growth was much lower than the preliminary forecasts in early February.

“However, this is not a surprise for investors amid the COVID-19 pandemic with complicated developments recently. We believe that with Government’s drastic social distancing measures since late March 2020, GDP growth will continue to be strongly affected in the second quarter, especially in service,” the company said.

On the global market, investors’ sentiment was lifted by hopes of further stimulus measures.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 1,351.62 points, or 6.38 per cent, to 22,552.17, the S&P 500 gained 154.51 points, or 6.24 per cent, to 2,630.07 and the Nasdaq Composite added 413.24 points, or 5.6 per cent, to 7,797.54.

The US is expected to pass a $2.2 trillion stimulus package that will provide their people with money to curb the damage caused by the pandemic.